PreCentral: webOS Quick Actions lets you make custom Just Type Quick Actions

[News Reporter]

link hidden, please login to view

has always been a powerful tool. Between universal search of your apps, content, and the web, custom web searches, and , Just Type has always had the potential to be incredibly powerful. But it didn't always get there, thanks to the perennially-low marketshare penetration of webOS.

But just because webOS has low user numbers doesn't mean there aren't developers out there looking to make there mark. Take Eugenio Paolantonio, an Italian webOS developer who decided he wanted truly custom web search capabilities. So he made his own app: . The app lets you generate a custom Just Type search or launch, so long as you know your way around scripting. It's pretty barebones, but the app itself is just a point in which to enter your scripting and a launching intermediary.

So what does this scripting allow you to do? Let's say you want to be able to search a site that doesn't have an . What do you do? You set up a custom Google search script that includes the site's url, and then all you have to do is plug into just type "sitename searchquery" and hit the Execute Quick Action button under Quick Actions - the app takes your cue (in this case sitename) and performs the appropriate search. webOS Quick Actions also supports opening apps on the device, and if the app supports the ability to open to a specific URL (for example, the web browser and App Catalog do), you can add in arguments to make that happen. Paolantonio's on webOS Italiia, if you're willing to muddle through the auto-translation (or can read Italian)

What webOS Quick Actions can do isn't necessarily limitless, but the options are many and only limited by your scripting know-how. Admittedly, our scripting know-how is on the rusty side of "never knew much to start", so while it'll take some studying before we can really make use of webOS Quick Actions, we saw the power user potential in it right away.